A calligraphy teacher told me recently that she found it the most uncreative of pursuits - no room for variation. Expert calligrapher Rosemary Grossman couldn't disagree more.
"I find it very creative," she said when, arrested by her lovely designs which include plants of all description, I spoke to her at Country Living's Christmas Fair this weekend.
Rosemary, who is 80, has, I think, reached that level of expertise where one lets go of analysis and follows one's instinct. She says when she lays out the page, she lets things go where they want. And, of course, white space is every bit as important as the words and decoration, so the design embodies a rhythm of light and dark.
Designs often include delicate renderings of flowers and plants (those in the picture above resulted from the commission for hedgerow plants seen at the time of the recipient's birthday), instantly recognisable to the gardener.
I could have spent hours rifling through all the different quotations she's illustrated. Somehow Rosemary manages to imbue them with a calm spirituality that can make the most familiar quotation hit you anew.
Design and execution takes a minimum of five hours and, to mitigate the problem that every craftsman recognises - of finding it impossible to charge sufficiently for hours spent - each original commission is also made into prints, many of which cost around £20.
Rosemary has a huge range of quotations and sayings already completed, so you might find your favourite already exists. However, she takes commissions, so if you have a specific gardening poem or quote that you'd like on your wall, she could probably still get it completed for Christmas, if you're quick.
She doesn't have a website, but you can contact her via her husband's email (norman dot grossman at auditel dot co dot uk) or phone 020 7274 4798.
(Sorry about the reflection on the picture above - photos weren't easy to take in the circumstances.)
...Landscape Juice Network
Comments